10 Best Completely Wireless Earbuds of 2018

If I wanted a pair of truly wireless headphones, I’d get the Jabra Elite Sport. After extensive research (which we’ll get into below), Jabra Elite came out on top. The market of actual wireless earbuds is extremely new and still very young. Not only did Jabra Elite outperform in just about every category, but they are also manufactured by a well reputed company: Jabra, who’s parent company has been around since 1869.

Our #1 Pick

Best Completely Wireless EarbudsJabra Elite
With 3-in-1 functionality, including audio streaming, speech enhancement, and noise cancellation, wrapped up in a sleek and well-fitting completely wireless earbud, we believe this is a positive step forward in the hearable market, and the best pair we’ve tested to date.

We think The Dash will fit the needs of mostly everyone. Not only are they Bluetooth compatible, but they also have the ability to store up to 1,000 songs directly in them. So, if you want to use them for a run or workout then you don’t even need your phone to enjoy your favorite songs.In addition they’re waterproof up to 3 feet, which means you can swim with them, and if you want to pass on the swimming, you at least won’t ever have to worry about sweat damage. They also track heart rate, steps, cadence, and more.

What makes a TRULY wireless pair of earbuds

Most of us use some type of headphones almost daily, whether it’s at work to block out the incessant gum smacking of your coworker, or at the gym for a little inspiration. Unfortunately while all of our devices are losing their wires, headphones are only pretending to.

Don’t believe me?

Check out this screenshot I took while browsing Amazon for “wireless earbuds.”

I added all the marked up red text for clarity. But as you can see, on a search result of 7 earbuds, 6 aren’t actually wirelessly. For the most part they are a pair of earbuds…attached by a WIRE.

I get it. They don’t require a wire to plug into the device, but that just makes them pluginless (if that’s even a word), or really just Bluetooth capable.

What I’m after are truly wireless earbuds, like the kind you see Tom Cruise wear in Oblivion.

Now those are wireless earbuds.

You could even see from the Amazon screenshot above, that they do exist, but for some reason they’re exceedingly hard to find. Until now.

How we chose what to test

Instead of picking and choosing a select few, I’ve gone through every single pair of completely wireless headphones that I could find. As of writing this, that’s a total of 21.

I imagine that number will grow over time, and I’ll be sure to update it.For now, if you happen to know about a pair that I missed, be sure to let us know in the comments below.

So, that’s the good news. The bad news is that of those 21, only 15 of them were a “pair” of earbuds. The other 6 were singular earpieces. It doesn’t stop there though, as of right now only 5 of the 15 are available. The other 10 are currently in either a funding or pre-order status.

How to choose the right pair for you

Before just choosing the pair that looks the coolest, or even our favorite pick, there is one specific criteria to consider: purpose.

Purpose. What exactly are you going to be using these headphones for? Do you want to track your heart rate while running? Are you just looking for some earbuds that can make phone calls? Or maybe you just need something small to carry while you travel?

Either way, decide your purpose, then take a look at our features column below and choose the best ones for you.

What does the future look like?

If you’re still reading that means your just as excited about the future of wireless sound as we are, which means you may also be interested in some data that suggests this is only the beginning of truly wireless earbuds. Check out this chart, form WiFore:

As you can see, the wireless earbud market is only expected to grow.

Here’s a few that are still in the crowdfunding stage, but look to have the ability to make a splash in the market:

We expect to see more innovation from places like Kickstarter and Indiegogo in order to meet very niche demands of wireless earbuds, like activity tracking, sleep tracking, biometrics, and so on.

You may also be interested to read our article about hearables, though a lot of them aren’t completely wireless like the ones on this page.

Final thoughts

Regardless of what you intend to use these earbuds for, we’re confident the Jabra Elites will meet, and surpass your needs. Be sure to let us know in the comments below which pair you ended up going with!

The samsung iconx are horrible. No charging case, loses connectivity all the time and charge only lasts an hour or less. If you charge them fully and don’t use them, the charge disappears within a few days. Weak. Weak weak. Jabras Rule.

Well, I dont know what your criteria was for choosing the best, but mine is first and foremost, uniterrupted connection, next would be sound quality, playback time, then charging case…with the Bragi Dash, I had a very hard time getting good sound quality, mostly because of the ear buds, but my biggest disappointment was conectivity, they were fine indoors, but out doors in open space when hiking, the connection was not good, to the point where I almost chucked them (then I remembered what i paid for them) my 3rd dislike, is the bulkiness, weight and standby time of the charging case, 1st two self explanitory, I don’t use them every day, but it seem like every time I went to use them, the case was completly dis-charged, (about 4 days)…I have since tried many others, they all have some good points, not one has all the good points in one package yet.

Bragi dash we’re terrible for me even after latest update connectivity like you mentioned was terrible outside and bad even when i had my phone in my pocket going to try the jabra elite havent really seen any bad reviews about them

I had a pair of the Jabra Elite Sport, the sound was great & the bluetooth connection was effortless but they were so uncomfortable I took them back. I tried every option in the box & they quite literally caused me pain but I have small ears so might be a better fit for someone else.

Have to agree with this review. I really wanted to like Jabra Elite Sport, and the sound quality was decent. Good selection of ear pieces provided, but after trying them all I needed to return the product. Very painful to wear for more than 30 minutes.

I am trying so hard to get used to the fix of the Jabra Elite Sport. My husband has a pair and loves them. I wanted to take them back because they are so uncomfortable but he talked me into giving them a chance. It has been about a month and a half, and I just cant take it any more. Either they fall I because I don’t have them shoved in my ear as far as they will go, or they are extremely painful the whole time I am wearing them and I cringe when I have to take them out because my ears hurt so bad. Not sure these are the best earbuds for women. I am giving them to my son, hope he has better luck. On this site looking for suggestions on something a lot like the Jabra Elite Sport without the pain.

Hi Peggy. You likely have smaller ear canals and the Jabras are too tight. I would recommend you check out the custom-made Bragi Dash Pro Tailored option. The customization will be for your ears so they should be much more comfortable. https://www.bragi.com/thedashpro/customize/

Dopler Labs Here Ones are really awesome. They’re not just wireless earbuds, they let you hear the world around you even while you have music, video content etc playing on your phone. They were just released recently so I’m not surprised they’re not on this list, however I watched a Youtube review of the Dash and was told that the sound quality was terrible, very muffled. The only real drawback with the Here Ones is battery life; if I’m streaming music I only get two hours, but I have high hopes the company will make future improvements either through software tweaking or in the next generation Here ones when and if they build them.

So first I bought the Bragi-Dash off Amazon in black and could not get them to properly connect to my iPhone. I trouble-shot it with YouTube and the internet and Amazon technical Support, finally we realized they are defective. They would connect but no sound would come out of them from the phone only from the Dash voice prompts. So I returned and replaced them with a white pair from Brookstone.com. That pair connected and I could listen to music. One problem though the right ear bud speaker was defective and sounded like a blown speaker sounds. I reset them, re connected, updated the firmware, everything and so it obviously was defective / bad. Well that’s two for two that are bad. So far Incall this poor quality management in the manufacturing or just a poor / low quality design. I’m waiting for pair number three. Giving it one last shot. If anything is wrong with these I’m moving on to the Jabra.

As far a support goes, trying to get customer service or technical support from Bragi is like trying to find the elusive Chupacabra or the Sasquatch. Maybe not impossible but damn near impossible. Their customer service is HORRIBLE!! Terrible! The worst of the worst of the worst. I get better customer service from Chinese companies selling cheap products. They are truly horrible!! No phone support and they replied to my email after four attempts. I wrote back and NEVER heard from them again. The worst, of the worst of the worst!! I’m thinking of just retuning pair three and buying from a company that can provide support if needed. Who sells a technology based product with ZERO support? Terrible company.

You are so right, I have had the worst time with Dash. Left ear piece goes out and try to get it replaced. I have had two sets now go bad in just a 6 month period. Customer care is non existent. I am so pissed off with the fact you can’t call them and email is at a snails pace. I do not recommend this product at all. Paid a bundle for the Dash now I will throw them away. Worthless!

I have also a Nakamichi TW1, I bought it in Hongkong.
At least three times smaller than any of these and the sound quality is awesome.
I use it in the gym and fits perfect.
The docking/charging case can charge up my iPhone once as well.
I had a Jabra before, but this beats it.

I’d like the 2 to be easily paired and be able to make phone calls so I don’t need a pair to store anything but to work well with my Galaxy S8. It probably wouldn’t do to have stereo noise music etc on in your head for more than 2 hours so if it fits well, that’s long enough playtime probably. The seal on deal is how fast do they charge? Any good fit suggestions with this criteria?

Yah I was really excited for the Kanoa earbuds and gave them the benefit of the doubt when there were delays. But they sent out an email recently basically saying they lost funding and shut down production. Too bad, they looked promising.

Interesting article! Are there really so few that are available on the market? Last I looked it was pretty plentiful. I plan to test out the Rowkin earbuds. Have those been tested? Would love your opinions if so!

You’re right, there’s quite a few, but the advertising for many of the “truly wireless earbuds” is misleading (as most don’t function as stereo earbuds). I don’t believe we’ve tested the Rowkin yet, but they look at lot like the Earin (on our table above). I’ll see what we can do to test the Rowkin in the near future.

Doppler is no longer in business. Most of the others in the list do not have assistance for those with mild to moderate hearing impairment (or no hearing impairment for that matter). I can only assume that whoever compiled this review either did not actually test IQBuds, or did not have any hearing impairment.

I’ve had the Jabra Elite sport for quite a long rime now and I have found them to be brilliant they fit comfortably in my ears without any of the attachments needed the only thing that I didn’t like was the fact they are supposed to connect to Bluetooth devices but they won’t connw to my iPod touch or iPad Pro which are both Bluetooth devices.

I brought my bragi dash pro , it never turned on, I had charged it for more than 5 hrs, fully charger indicators on both was blue, I contacted bragi on line support, the guy told that several units reported similar defetect, Terrible Product and company don’t buy bragi of any kind

To all who are even considering Alien headphones, don’t bother. They break too easily and customer service doesn’t respond. I’m furious I have wasted my money! I should have just purchased Apple Airpods to save the headache.
The magnet in the charging case is too strong for the plastic mold. I have had 3 of these break and all I do is use them at my work computer. Pulling them in and out of the charging unit they came with is breaking them!??! Terrible quality, terrible customer service.

Their connection is horrible as well. Cuts in and out randomly. Also before they fall apart, if you touch them wrong, they disconnect. Just don’t bother wasting your money.

I have posted on IndieGoGo for help and someone with Alien responds saying they’ll take care of it if you send an email to customer service. They don’t do crap. They won’t respond and don’t help. DO NOT BUY THESE!
SAVE YOURSELF AND SAVE YOUR MONEY!